The present invention relates to a slidable drawer and more particularly, a slidable drawer for use with utility vehicles.
Slidable drawers are well known in the prior art and consist of familiar structural configurations developed to fulfill various objectives and requirements. For use with utility trucks, storage drawers have been constructed of aluminum with extensions that served as rails upon which the drawer would slide. Because drawers in a utility vehicle often store a variety of metal objects, which can be heavy, the conventional aluminum drawers have had sufficient strength and stiffness to safely retain the heavy metal objects. The problem with the aluminum drawers is that because they likewise are made of metal they are heavy and can limit the number of drawers that can be supported by a utility vehicle. Therefore, a need exists in the art for a lightweight drawer with sufficient strength and stiffness to safely retain a variety of heavy objects.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in conventional drawers, the primary object of this invention is to provide drawer made of a lightweight material that is also strong and stiff.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a drawer that is both economical to manufacture and easy to construct.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a drawer made with fewer parts.
These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of the invention.
The present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing has a configuration that allows a lightweight material to have sufficient strength and stiffness. The slidable drawer compartment has parallel side members with elongated bores on the bottom edge of the side members to slidably receive a support rail. On the inner side of the side member is a horizontal slot that extends the full length of the side member. Also, on the inner side of the side member are a pair of vertical slots at each end of the side members that dwell in a plane substantially coextensive with a vertical plane. The edges of a horizontal bottom member are received in the horizontal slots of the side member and a pair of panels are received in the vertical slots of the side members engaging the ends of the bottom member to close the compartment.